The Best Thing
by fmjl11
Summary: Her eyes flutter open to the feeling of cool fingertips running along her spine, the redhead enjoying the feeling for a few moments before she turned her head and smiled at the surgeon lying beside her. His smile only grew, the man leaning down and mumbling, "Mornin' Mrs. Karev." before placing his lips on hers.


The Best Thing

Her eyes flutter open to the feeling of cool fingertips running along her spine, the redhead enjoying the feeling for a few moments before she turned her head and smiled at the surgeon lying beside her. His smile only grew, the man leaning down and mumbling, "Mornin' Mrs. Karev." before placing his lips on hers. April leaned into the kiss, the butterflies rising in her stomach at his words, she wasn't sure she would ever get tired of hearing him call her by his last name. She, April Kepner, the shy, small town, virgin had married Alex Karev. Sometimes she couldn't even believe it herself.

"How are you awake before me?" she asked against his lips, "In two years of dating, you've never once woken up before me."

He smirked at the words, "Well, you were a little tired after last night." He replied. Her face burned, a red blush creeping up her cheeks as he leaned in for another kiss. A groan fell from his lips when her alarm chose that moment to go off, the loud beeping noise filling the room. He reached out blindly to feel for her alarm, the brunette managing to flip the switch to off while his lips moved across April's jaw.

"We have to get ready…" April said quietly as Alex continued to kiss his way down her neck. "We have a plane to catch, and I promised you I would make breakfast before we left, and we have to shower."

He finally lifted his head, smiling as he said; "We can do that." And before she knew what was happening he had her lifted over his shoulder blanket and all and was barreling his way through the apartment that they shared.

"Alex!" she yells through her laugh, "Put me down, right this instant!" he does, they're in the bathroom by now anyway and he needs his hand to adjust the taps. He looks back at her as the water heats up, she's sitting on the toilet seat and has the comforter wrapped around her shoulders and clutched to her chest and he can see a bit of apprehension on her face.

"Hey." He says quietly, walking over, kneeling down next to her, and putting his hands on her knees. "You okay?"

The corners of her lips rise in a soft smile and she leans forward to press a light kiss to his lips. "I'm great… I'm perfect—I just, I guess the whole sex thing still freaks me out a little, I'm still thinking like a virgin."

He nodded in understanding, everyone had been shocked when it had come out that April had wanted to remain a virgin until marriage. In the beginning of their relationship other attendings had made bets on how long it would take April to cave or for Alex to break things off, but somehow they'd made it through. That's not to say that it wasn't a struggle, or that he wasn't close to tearing his hair out after a particularly steamy make-out session where she'd leave him with a mad case of blue balls, but they had found a way to make it work.

"Listen, we don't have to do anything if it makes you uncomfortable." He whispered, pushing a strand of red hair out of her face. "It's okay, we can still take things slow."

"No, no. Alex, I want to—you were… it was wonderful." She said, placing another kiss on his lips, "I'm just nervous that I'm terrible at it."

He pulled back to meet her eyes, "April Kepner, you were anything but terrible, if I didn't know any better I'd have said you were lying about the whole virgin thing in the first place."

"Why would I lie about that?" she asked, laughing lightly as she buried her face in his chest.

"Beats me." He replied with a chuckle, and with a grip full of red hair he brought her lips back to his. He was surprised when she made the first move, the girl standing up and pulling him into the now steamy shower.

He'd gotten out of the shower before April, the girl claiming that if he didn't leave she was never going to be able to get ready in time. Throwing on the first pair of jeans he saw and picking up a t-shirt from the floor he reached for his phone that was sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. He had 7 texts all from Cristina and Meredith with various wordings of 'How was Kepner in bed?' He rolled his eyes as he typed back, 'Leave me alone, I'm on my honeymoon.' And sent it to both girls before shoving his phone into his pocket.

When April comes down the stairs he's in the middle of flipping the pancakes and bacon on the griddle. "Hey." She said quietly, walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "I thought I was supposed to be the one making breakfast."

"I didn't wanna miss the freakin' plane." He replied, turning to look at her, "We've got to be up and out of here in like 5 minutes." April looked over at the clock as he turned off the burner, "3 minutes. We don't have time to eat this, we've got to go."

The man just laughed at her impatient side, April was used to showing up 20 minutes early for any event while Alex procrastinated up to the last minute. "You have a lot to learn." He replied as he grabbed two paper plates from the top shelf and made the pancakes and bacon into a breakfast sandwich, "Breakfast on the go." She looks at him skeptically but takes the plate when her stomach noticeably growls. "Someone worked up a bit of an appetite." He said with a laugh, earning a smack in the back of the head as the couple headed for the door.

April had always hated flying, or maybe more the idea of flying since she'd never really been on a plane until a few years ago. She was always so sure that they were going to crash or that something bad was going to happen. "I got these for you from the pharmacy." Alex said as they walked through the parking lot, pulling out a pill packet from his wallet, "They're to help with the flying, I know how much convincing it took for you to do this. They'll calm you down, probably put you right to sleep."

"I didn't even think about that," she replied, taking the pills gratefully and swallowing them dry. "Thank you."

"You were busy with wedding plans." He supplied with a smile, "I just did a little thinking about the better part… you know, the after."

"The sex part." She corrected with a laugh.

"Well, I was pretty excited about that part too." He agreed, "But you know what I mean, like, our life or whatever." She smiled, pushing up on her toes to kiss him.

"You have a way with words, Karev." She replied.

"You love it." Came his quick reply. "You know I love you."

"I know." She replied, the redhead playing with the wedding band on her left hand, "I love you back."

"You better." He said as they boarded the plane and he led her to their seats.

"Thank you for choosing Oceanic, flight 212 non-stop to Hawaii will be departing shortly, the pilot is asking that everyone please fasten their seatbelts." Alex looked over at April as the flight attendant went over the emergency procedures, the man sending her a smile when she met his eyes.

"Did you ever think we'd end up here?" she asked, her eyes starting to droop as the medicine took effect. "Me and you, did you ever think we'd actually make it?"

"Never doubted it for a second." Came his immediate response, the surgeon pressing a kiss to her forehead as she closed her eyes.

"_Will you tell her she won or she's never gonna stop." Alex said. They'd been at trauma certification all day, and everyone had given up except for he and April, not that he had been giving nearly as much effort as the latter. Kepner had just gone off book and driven an ambulance with dummies up to the pit entrance._

"_Karev, call the OR and make sure there's a room available." She shouted._

"_Will do."_

_Owen sighed, and finally let her have her victory, "Alright, alright, fine… blue team wins." _

"_Blue team wins!" April cheered, running up to the other surgeon and wrapping her arms around his neck. To this day he's not really sure what possessed him to do it but suddenly his lips were on hers and the celebratory hug quickly turned into a celebratory make-out session._

_Fast forward two months to their first official date, if you could even call it that, he'd panicked and ended up taking her to Joes for a drink and some greasy cheeseburgers. It took another 3 weeks for him to man up and take her on a real date, and after that another month went by before he was ready to call her his girlfriend, not that he had been seeing or even thinking anyone else since trauma certification._

_She said 'I love you' first, when they were lying in his bed, watching some lame movie that she loved from the Hallmark channel. It had come out in a rush, and he actually had to ask her to repeat her, what he was sure was, a pre-thought out speech about how much he meant to her and he had just smiled, leaned over to kiss her, and said 'I love you, too.' Before she made herself freak out._

_He'd proposed at the hospital, it just seemed fitting for them and she was a total mush for public displays of affection. She was crying and said yes before he could even get out the words 'Will you marry me?' and he had picked her up and spun her around before sliding an engagement ring on her finger._

_She'd taken the whole wedding planning thing to the extreme, it was something she had been planning for practically her whole life, the entire Kepner clan had flown out to Seattle to witness the happy couple tie the knot and the whole ceremony was just inexplicably April. They'd rented out a section of the park in the fall, the leaves changing colors above them as they recited their handwritten vows. Meredith had stood up as his 'best man' while Jackson took the roll of 'maid of honor' much to the dismay of April's three sisters. The day had been perfect, something that Alex and April knew they would remember for the rest of their lives._

"Baby…" Alex said quietly as he lightly shook her side, "We're landing, it's time to wake up."

She blinked a few times before she looked over at him. "Already?" she asked.

"Mhm." He replied, rubbing at his eyes. "You have good dreams?"

She smiled lightly, leaning over and brushing her lips against his cheek. "It wasn't a dream. I love you."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

It was sunny and 92° when April rolled over and buried her head in the pillow. She'd fallen asleep almost the moment they'd arrived at the resort. She heard the sink running in the bathroom before Alex walks in the room. "Morning babe." He said when he noticed she was awake. "Get up, get dressed, we're going down to the beach."

She rolled her eyes at his demanding tone and got herself out of bed, pulling her hair up into a messy bun at the top of her bed as she searched for her bag. Alex couldn't help but cast a few glances at her as she changed into the purple bikini and he smiled as he crossed the room when she asked for his help in doing up the top. "You know," he said, leaning down to brush his lips over the nape of her neck as his arms wrapped around her waist "We could just stay in bed this whole vacation, if you wanted to."

"Oh, that's very tempting, Karev." She replied as she turned around, smiling lightly, "But I think we could both use a little sun." She pecked at his lips before she pulled away, reaching into her bag to pull out a sundress and she laughed as she heard the man behind her groan.

"You shouldn't be putting on _more _clothes right now." He said, "Come on, Apes."

"Don't worry, it'll all be coming off soon enough." She replied with a wink as she reached for the beach bag he had set down on the table at the front of the room. "Let's go."

Alex really should have thought his choice of vacation spots through. They'd been at the beach for a little over an hour, and it was taking everything in him not to tear the heads off of every man he saw starring at his new wife. He swears when she'd gotten up to get drinks at least 7 of them plus the bartender had taken there sweet time checking out her ass. "Put this fuckin' thing back on." He said, tossing her discarded sundress back in her direction.

"I already told you no." she replied, not even bothering to open her eyes. "You're over reacting."

"I am not." He replied, "It's bad enough when our co-workers look at you in the locker room, now it's complete strangers and you're wearing next to nothing."

She cracked one eye open and looked over, "Are you jealous?" she asked, and the humorous tone in her voice told him it wasn't even a question.

"I'm not jealous." He replied immediately, "Shut up. I just don't want these creeps starring at you, I'm the only one that gets to stare at you."

"Cause you're jealous." She said with a laugh, "Tell you what, if you stop pouting I'll let you help me reapply my sunscreen. She didn't even have to look at him to know that he was digging through her bag for the green bottle. He rubbed his hands together to warm the lotion before moving to straddle her hips as she lay on her stomach. He took his time, rubbing the lotion onto every inch of her skin and tracing letters that may or may not spell 'I love you' into her back, but whatever, he's allowed, before he moves down to her legs.

She lets out a soft hum as his fingers move lightly over her skin, "You know, if the whole surgeon thing doesn't work out, I think you could make it as a masseuse." She can feel him move his way back up her body and his breath is against his ear before he speaks.

"Turn over, I gotta do your front." He says, his voice low and his breath hot against her skin.

"I don't think I can trust you." She replies and she hears him chuckle before his lips are moving over the spot behind her ear that she'd always loved.

"So." He says against her skin, and her resolve has completely melted as she turns around and her lips meet his. The kiss quickly turns from soft to fast and needy, his tongue finding its way into her mouth and brushing against hers. "Hotel?" he asked against her lips, letting out a light laugh when she nodded immediately.

"Hotel." She agreed.

The rest of the honeymoon had gone without incident, other than them almost getting caught and arrested for skinny-dipping, but he had promised he would never mention that little lapse of her judgment ever again. She'd opted not to take any pills for the plane ride home, wanting to enjoy the little time she had left on her vacation before in was straight back to work the next day. They'd arrived in Seattle about 11 o'clock that night, and even though they both had to be at work at eight the next morning Alex had still convinced her to have another quickie in the shower as they got ready for bed.

The sound of her alarm pulled both surgeons out of their sleep and April giggled as she heard Alex groan from across the bed. "Back to the real world."

"Don't lie." April replied as she rolled herself out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. "You missed it, I know you did. You love your job."

He didn't even bother responding, rolling over to his stomach to try to catch a few more minutes of sleep before he would have to get ready to go. His eyes open to the feeling of her warm breath against his neck before she places a kiss against his skin and whispers, "You've gotta get up, I'll go make breakfast." And then she's gone and he's got this stupid blissful smile on his face, and fuck, he loves her so much sometimes it's almost insane. By the time he makes it down the stairs he practically has to inhale the ham and eggs that are sitting on a plate on the kitchen counter before he followed her out the front door.

"Come on Evil Spawn, how was it?" Cristina asked for what felt like the 100th time. "Or was it so horrible and now you don't wanna talk about it, and you're stuck having boring, terrible, married sex for the rest of your life."

He rolled his eyes, "It wasn't terrible, and it was definitely anything but boring." He smirked, "I guess when you wait that long you have a lot of time for research, figure out what you like."

"Oh, ew." The woman responded, "Are you telling me that she's a freak? Did she bring a gag?"

"Dude, shut up. She didn't become a porn star or anything." His eyes flickered to April as she got off the elevator and headed in the direction of the pit.

Meredith watched as he looked over, "She look tired, you must have worn her out… was she loud, she looks like she might be loud?"

He groans loudly and finally says, "It was good cause it was her, or whatever." and Meredith actually sends him a bit of a grin before Cristina laughs.

"You're turning into such a pussy."

"I've got patients to see." He says back, and he can hear the both girls laughing as he heads down the hall to the PEDS ward.

"So, how's married life treating you?" Jackson asked as he sat down next to the redhead at their usual lunch table. The duo were the first two to arrive, but the rest of the posse couldn't be to far behind. "Was Hawaii as awesome as I told you it would be?"

"It was beautiful." April agreed, "And being married is amazing, I know eventually I'll have to get out of this blissful bubble, but just thinking about it gives me chills." As she spoke she twisted the silver band on her ring finger around, "It's feels like when we first started dating but 1,000 times, I can hardly believe it myself sometimes."

"Well, I'm happy for you. I know I didn't really support it in the beginning, but what can I say, you proved me wrong." It was true, Jackson had been on of the least supportive people when Alex and Aprils relationship in the beginning, but as the relationship continued on he had grown to accept it and in the end become one of its biggest supporters.

"Damn right we did." Jackson and April looked up just as Arizona and Alex approached from the food line, the man dropping a kiss on the top of her head as he took a seat next to her and slid a plastic container of French fries in her direction. "Got you these. "

She smiled as she took one from the box and popped it into her mouth as the rest of the group slowly started to appear at the table. If you had asked her 4 years ago if she'd be sitting here with these people, considering each and every one of them to be her family she would have called you crazy. If you had told her she'd have ended up with Alex Karev she probably would have had you committed but as she looked over, catching his eyes just as a rare Karev smile graced his lips she knew she wouldn't change a thing.


End file.
